§ MR. J. C. EWARTsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for 1421 Foreign Affairs, Whether it is probable that an English vessel, loaded in England before the notification of the blockade, but cleared out two or three days after for the port of Tampico, would be admitted into that port in the event of its being blockaded by the French?
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, in reply, that he could not, of course, give an answer with respect to any specific case. All that he was able to say was, that the French Government had given to Her Majesty's Government an assurance that any vessel that had left any British port for Mexico previous to the declaration of the blockade, should not be interfered with by the French cruisers; and, moreover, that the French Government had given an assurance to Her Majesty's Government that it was not their intention to interfere with legitimate commerce, either on the part of French or neutral vessels, its object being merely to prohibit the importation into Mexico of the munitions of war.